Kevin Walsh

Really clean mix, wow! Nice vocals and good song, a pop style that takes me back! Guitars are great and the harmonies are killer.

14 hours ago, bjornpdx said:

Well written and well performed song.  One of those songs where less is more which lets the emotion shine through.

Thank you! I'm grateful you took the time to listen and comment.

Your mixes are sounding pretty good these days. I always look forward to a new one from you and this one is great!

7 hours ago, mark skinner said:

Great song.  I really liked the sparse mix.  This is a direction I'm trying to go myself , I really like playing a lot of instruments on my recordings but sometimes simpler is better .     

Thanks for the listen, Mark. It's a real challenge to get a lean mix to sound reasonably full and present. I tried a bazillion things with this one.

8 hours ago, SPAK said:

You underestimate yourself .. still haunts me (My wife keeps saying ' why do you keep singing " Hold me down" ... so I said she had to hear this song ..Tom Waits came to mind .. all good)👍

Steve

Thanks, Steve! I do try. I have a hard drive just full of crap I wouldn't let my dog hear. I figure if I just keep writing them, I'm statistically likely to produce a few good ones before the heat-death of the universe.

Really good song with heartfelt lyrics, a quality mix and great performances, I can see why you keep this one around.  Those keys are a perfect background for the laid back vocals. I also think it's pretty cool that you didn't put a chorus in there. Oh, and did I mention the great mix? Yeah, I guess I did. I enjoyed this one quite a lot. 

Thanks for taking the time to listen! Your comments did a world of good for this apprentice songwriter to read, Steve!

Great mix, loved the drums! This reminds me of the fevered dream days of my youth in the 70's - a very good thing!

Thanks, Wookie, I appreciate the loan of your ears and your Adams.  Beats my ancient KRK Rokit 5's

2 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

This one is melancholy, but I'm sure that's what you were going for, so well done.
Very sparse, but I think it conveys the message.  "piano/vocal" demos, "guitar/vocal" demos, are just that, "demos";
but I think this one stands alone well. Is that what you meant by "deconstructing" your style?

Tom

Tom, thanks for giving it a listen and thanks for your comments. Yes, that's exactly what I mean. I'm currently experimenting with a several songs that try to communicate as much as possible with as little as possible.  This is one of them, as are my previous two, "Little Cloud" and "Eyes to the Ground" (also on that reverb nation page.) I'm trying to learn how to write songs that work for me with all my limitations as a musician and this is part of the process I've come up with. 

Great song, vocals and lyrics. Melody is catchy and interesting from beginning to end and the chord changes are wonderful, reminds me of Steely Dan. Love the use of synths and drums to drive things along and the musical interlude is sweet. I wish I could mix songs with half the clarity you have achieved here.

Really like this and especially dig the guitar sounds. Pristine mix! I didn't find it to be melancholy at all. I would call the feeling cautiously assertive.

Here's another of my attempts at deconstructing my songwriting style, comments, criticisms and feedback of any kind are welcome!

If I understand what you are asking, you can do this now.  This tutorial starts with applying tempo to a project that wasn't recorded to a click, but then it also covers changing an existing tempo for the whole project. 

I'm holding out for that 3950X or perhaps the 24 core Threadripper,  both due out on 11/19.  I don't need that kind of power for a DAW, but for work it will be a huge productivity boost. It won't suck for DAW work either.

You might consider checking out some YouTube courses on how to use and care for and clean your soldering equipment. If you have stuff built up on the soldering tip you are not caring for it properly and it will not do the job it was designed to do to an adequate extent.

If you look at the picture below you will see the soldering iron that I have been using for the past four years. I have built three tube amplifiers and a FET microphone with that tip.

At a minimum, use the sponge when you solder and quickly wipe the soldering iron tip on the wet sponge after each application of solder to a component. So during the course of a work session you will be wiping that tip many many many times . Make sure the tip is tinned and that it is nice and shiny after each wipe and it will last a very long time and do a great job for you.

Finally if you're going to be doing any kind of work like this it pays to spend a little extra money to get a variable temperature soldering station. The one I have below is a Weller wesd51. It didn't cost much more than $100 and it's a fantastic tool that will allow you to do consistently  high-quality work for a long time.

Good luck!

Edit: I learned to solder at a weeks-long soldering school when I was in the US Navy. That school taught soldering techniques that met NASA-specifications for workmanship and was probably the most intense training I've ever had.   Those specs cover every conceivable soldering scenario as you might well imagine. Check out  https://hackaday.com/2016/11/03/specifications-you-should-read-the-nasa-workmanship-standards/ for an entertaining read on this subject as well as an extremely useful link to the specs themselves. 

Now, I'm not saying you need to use NASA standards to make XLR cables, but the standards are very practical and easy to understand, and after a little practice, using those techniques makes things much easier and faster and your work will stand the test of time. Besides, to paraphrase the Hackaday site, it doesn’t hurt the ego to build something trivial to the same standards as a spaceship.

5 hours ago, Old Joad said:

Cool song, I really like what you did here. good job😎

Thanks for taking the time!

Thanks Paul I appreciate you listening! I'm going to call this one done  I think. I want to thank everyone who has provided feedback I quite literally couldn't have done this without you.

Wow, what a lush sound. Really nice mix, and a clever arrangement. Beautiful!

Yeah, man, gotta have Jan and Dean doing harmonies! Aside from that, others have given you the essentials. Brings back memories!

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss! Nice sound with lots of warmth that I wish I could get in my tunes.  Piano and drums sound great and mix is very solid.

I've updated my original post with the new mix, please check it out, thank you!

I enjoyed this one very much, Daryl, great lyrics and simple, clear and well executed vocals (always a standout for you guys) with a great arrangement. The mix is clear, balanced and quite nice to listen to. What's not to like?

You do have something here that I like, . It's kind of like a cross between The Clash, the Beatles and Captain Beefheart. Pretty cool!